Mt. Toby

I've been itching to go hiking since leaving Glacier... but I don't have any hiking buddies out here in Amherst yet, and I've been somewhat reluctant to head out on my own... But the need to hike overpowered me on Monday, and I decided to just do it.  The closest "mountain" to our house is Mt. Toby, about 5.5 miles away. The hike up to the summit is a mere two miles, which seemed like too little of a challenge for me, so I decided to bike there to up the ante.

It was a pretty sweaty ride, since we do live in the hills, and the weather was terribly humid and warm. But I can't complain. I followed the Franklin County Bikeway, which winds along lovely country roads and showcases everything I love about New England.

The trail begins at Cranberry Pond, quite a scenic little spot:

The trail is only 2 miles, but boy was it steep! No switchbacks here, just straight up climbing! And with the humidity and heat, it felt harder that a lot of Glacier hikes... But the view was well worth it. There is a tower at the summit, which means you can get some awesome panorama views of the Pioneer Valley. Here's one:
I came home sweaty, gross, and completely exhausted (11 miles of biking + 4 miles of hiking), and call me masochistic, but I just love inflicting that kind of fatigue on myself. After a day hiking, I feel like I can go to sleep clean conscience, so to speak. "I deserve to sleep now" rather than "Oh, I guess I'll go to sleep now even though my body shouldn't really need sleep because it hasn't done anything today to rest from...."

"After a day's walk everything has twice its usual value."  

~George Macauley Trevelyan